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Comprehensive Exams

For the Summer 2008 Semester, the comprehensive exam will be held Friday, June 27th with Thursday, June 12th being the last day to register. Comprehensive exam results are to be turned in shortly thereafter. Questions should should be directed to your graduate advisor who will give them to Dr. Lamberth, Graduate Coordinator for the department. The exam will be held in the Walker computer lab located in the front of McCarthy Gym beginning at 8:30 AM. Students are excused for lunch from 12 - 1 pm, then the exams conclude from 1 to 4 pm. As noted in the Graduate Bulletin, students must be within six hours of graduation or in their final semester of coursework (absent DIS, thesis or internship hours) to participate in the comprehensive exams. Students MUST have a committee form and program of study form completed prior to taking the exam. See your graduate advisor with any questions. Please note: students who fail the initial attempt CAN NOT apply to retake the exam until 4 months from the date of the original exam (p. 55 Graduate Bulletin). Also, any students on Probabtionary Status for earning a C the previous semester CAN NOT take the comp exam until the Probationary Status has been completed (p. 54 Graduate Bulletin). Hence, students might need an additional semester to take the comps exams..

[ Application Process ]

1. If you have not done so, you must submit a completed Program of Study and Committee Request Form with appropriate signatures in order to take the exam. If you have a minor, your minor professor must sign as well as serve as a committee member.

2. Fill out an Application for Comprehensive Examination (Interactive PDF)

3. Submit completed and signed forms to the Graduate Coordinator (Dr. John Lamberth) or mail to:

Graduate Coordinator (Comp Exams) - Dr. John Lamberth
Dept. of Kinesiology P.O. Box 6186
Mississippi State, MS 39762

[ What Students Should Know About Comp Exams ]

The comprehensive examinations consist of guidelines from the department, the College of Education and the Office of Graduate Studies. Please review through the following for a full understanding of how the process works.

Program of Study and Committee forms can be found on the Resources & Information page of the College of Education website under the heading of Forms & Handbooks (except for Sport Administration – templates are on the Sport Administration website).

Kinesiology Graduate Coordinator & Kinesiology Graduate Council
Updated: April 14, 2008

[ College of Education Specifics ]

Please first review the following information pulled directly from the College of Education Graduate Handbook (PDF):

Final Examination
A final examination is required of ALL degree candidates. The comprehensive examination may be taken during the semester or term in which final course work (excluding thesis and internship hours) is being completed or later. However, the student must be enrolled for a minimum of one semester hour of credit during the semester or term in which the comprehensive examination is administered. The comprehensive examination is administered only once during the summer session. Dates for the comprehensive examination are set by the individual departments. Students should check with the program graduate coordinator or their graduate advisor. If candidates are required to take both a written and an oral examination, the results of the written examination should be reported to the Office of Graduate Studies in conjunction with the report of the oral examination.

1. Application for Final Examination: The student must apply to take the final (comprehensive) examination by the deadline published by the department. Students should be within 6 hours of completing the coursework for the degree when they take the final examination.

2. Checklist for Eligibility for Final Examination and/or Graduation. See Appendix C. This checklist should be completed as part of the application for the final examination.

3. Content and Purpose of the Final Examination. The examination should show (a) thorough familiarity with the literature in the major field and (b) general knowledge and training (including use of oral and/or written English). Individual departments may furnish study guides or reading lists to assist in preparation. Students should check with their departmental graduate coordinator.

4. Failure on the Final Examination. If a student fails the final (comprehensive) examination, the student must reapply for graduation through the Registrar’s Office prior to the deadline for same, as outlined in the current Graduate Studies Bulletin (PDF). The student must also reapply for the examination through the major department and should do this during the early part of the term in which graduation is anticipated. The student must be enrolled in a minimum of one semester hour of credit at MSU to retake the examination. Candidates for the master's degree will be allowed to take the comprehensive examination two times in their efforts to pass the examination. See departmental handbooks for specific requirements related to retaking final examinations.

[ Office of Graduate School Specifics ]

Please review the following information pulled directly from the current Graduate Bulletin (PDF)

Calendar of deadlines relative to comprehensive exams (PDF)
(see Graduate Academic Calendar near the front of the bulletin).

Probationary Status (p. 54) – a student who earned a C in one semester may be placed on probationary status the following semester and may be asked to retake the course or meet specific academic standards (Ex. meeting a certain GPA, completing specific courses) in the following semester as set by the advisor, Graduate Coordinator and in conjunction with the Dean’s Office. Please note: a student on probationary status CAN NOT take the comprehensive exams until the probationary status has been lifted. Hence a student on probationary status during their final semester of coursework would have to take the comp exams the following semester. Retaking the Exam – students who fail the initial exam cannot apply to retake the exam until four months from the date of the initial exam (p. 55). Two failures results in the student being dismissed from the program and no longer being a master’s degree candidate.

[ Department of Kinesiology Specifics ]

Please review the following information as set by Department’s Graduate Council

  1. Make sure you meet with your advisor and insure that your Program of Study and Committee Forms are complete. After all signatures are obtained these forms will be turned in to your advisor. Either your advisor or the Graduate Coordinator will deliver these to the Office of Graduate Studies. Students are NOT to deliver these themselves.
  2. Complete the Comp Exam Application with your advisor who will provide direction on which five classes you will take questions from during your comp exams.
  3. If you pursue a minor, your minor professor MUST also serve as a committee member.
  4. Individual professors providing questions for the comp exam can determine whether they will provide a study guide or the questions in advance. If the professors decides to do so it is expected the exams with be graded with greater scrutiny.
  5. On the day of comp exams students will meet in the Walker Computer Lab at 8:15 AM and the comp exam process will begin at 8:30. Students will work until 12:00 at which time all students will be dismissed for lunch for one hour. At 1:00 pm, the afternoon session of the comp exams will begin and continue until 4:00 pm.
  6. Cell phones and use of email are NOT permitted during the morning or afternoon exam sessions. Students found using either will be asked to leave and will have to take the comp exams the next semester.
  7. It is up to the student to decide if they want to take questions from 3 courses in the morning and 2 courses in the afternoon. Or vice versa. Once a student has received questions they must complete them in the session (morning or afternoon) that they were received. Example, a student cannot start a question before lunch and conclude it after lunch.
  8. A student may not attempt to amend any documents after they have completed that section. Any attempt to do so is a violation of the MSU Honor Code. Discussion of questions with fellow students prior to the final conclusion of the comp exams also is a violation of MSU Honor Code.
  9. Students are expected to use Word Document on the computer to answer the questions. Each professor/class that provides questions should have the responses saved to the desktop in the format of Student name –Professor Name – class name.doc
    • a. Ex: John Doe – Hoyt – PE 8313.doc
  10. Using Word Document, please insert page numbers at the bottom center of each of your documents as well as your name, course name and professor’s name on each page.
  11. At lunch, the Graduate Coordinator (not necessarily your advisor) will come to each computer and save your files to a 3.5 floppy disk with the student’s name on it. Each file will also be printed out so a hard copy of your response exists. Hence the important of having the names and page numbers included in your responses.
    • a. At the conclusion of the exam’s afternoon session this process will be repeated by the Graduate Coordinator.
    • b. The Graduate Coordinator will then have a hard copy of responses to the five classes as well as the responses saved on a separate disk for each student.
    • c. Prior to departing the computer lab, it is the student’s responsibility to insure that the 5 hard copies and disk are completely turned in and the comp exam is officially concluded.
    • d. All comprehensive exams questions should remain in the Walker Computer Lab and should not leave the exam area at any time.
  12. The Graduate Coordinator will distribute the responses from the five classes to your graduate advisor who will then distribute them to the five appropriate professors for grading.
    • a. To expedite the process the versions saved to the disks can be emailed to the appropriate professors. The hard copy will serve as a back-up.
  13. Responses of Pass or Fail will then be returned from the five professors to the graduate advisor who will relay the verdict to the Graduate Coordinator.
  14. The Graduate Coordinator will then notify the Office of Graduate Studies of the verdict of your comprehensive examinations by completing out a “Results Form” by the appropriate deadline (see "calendar of deadlines" above on page 2).
  15. As noted in the College of Education Graduate Handbook, students who fail the comprehensive examinations will have to enroll in at least one hour in the semester they retake the exams.
  16. Application for retake of the exams will have to be at least four months from the date of the original exam.